Science and technology in the United Kingdom

{{Further|List of British innovations and discoveries}}

File:GodfreyKneller-IsaacNewton-1689.jpg (1643–1727) with his important contributions to classical physics and mathematics]]

File:Charles Darwin aged 51.jpg (1809–82) whose theory of evolution by natural selection is the foundation of modern biological sciences]]

England (which included Wales at the time) and Scotland were leading centres of the Scientific Revolution from the 17th century.J. Gascoin, "A reappraisal of the role of the universities in the Scientific Revolution", in David C. Lindberg and Robert S. Westman, eds, Reappraisals of the Scientific Revolution (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), {{ISBN|0-521-34804-8}}, p. 248. The United Kingdom led the Industrial Revolution from the 18th century,{{cite web |url=http://europa.eu/abc/european_countries/eu_members/unitedkingdom/index_en.htm |title=European Countries – United Kingdom |work=Europa (web portal) |access-date=15 December 2010}} and has continued to produce scientists and engineers credited with important advances.E. E. Reynolds and N. H. Brasher, Britain in the Twentieth Century, 1900–1964 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1966), p. 336. Some of the major theories, discoveries and applications advanced by people from the United Kingdom are given below.

• The development of empiricism and its role in scientific method, by Francis Bacon (1561–1626).Urbach, Peter (1987). Francis Bacon's Philosophy of Science: An Account and a Reappraisal. La Salle, Ill.: Open Court Publishing Co. {{ISBN|9780912050447}}. p. 192.
• The laws of motion and illumination of gravity, by physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist and theologian, Sir Isaac Newton (1643–1727).E. A. Burtt, [https://books.google.com/books?id=G9WBMa1Rz_kC&dq=newton+foundation+of+modern+science&pg=PA207 The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Science] (Mineola, NY: Courier Dover, 1924, rpt., 2003), {{ISBN|0-486-42551-7}}, p. 207.
• The discovery of hydrogen, by Henry Cavendish (1731–1810).Christa Jungnickel and Russell McCormmach, [https://books.google.com/books?id=eiDoN-rg8I8C&q=Henry+Cavendish Cavendish] (American Philosophical Society, 1996), {{ISBN|0-87169-220-1}}.
• The steam locomotive, by Richard Trevithick (1771–1833) and Andrew Vivian (1759–1842).I. James, Remarkable Engineers: From Riquet to Shannon (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), {{ISBN|0-521-73165-8}}, pp. 33–6.
• An early electric motor, by Michael Faraday (1771–1867), who largely made electricity viable for use in technology.B. Bova, The Story of Light (Sourcebooks, 1932, rpt., 2002), {{ISBN|1-4022-0009-9}}, p. 238.
• The theory of aerodynamics, by Sir George Cayley (1773–1857).Ackroyd, J.A.D. [http://rsnr.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/56/2/167.full.pdf Sir George Cayley, the father of Aeronautics] Notes Rec. R. Soc. Lond. 56 (2), 167–181 (2002). Retrieved: 29 May 2010.
• The first public steam railway, by George Stephenson (1781–1848).{{cite book |author=Davies, Hunter |year=1975 |title=George Stephenson |publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson |isbn=978-0-297-76934-7}}
• The first commercial electrical telegraph, co-invented by Sir William Fothergill Cooke (1806–79) and Charles Wheatstone (1802–75).Hubbard, Geoffrey (1965) Cooke and Wheatstone and the Invention of the Electric Telegraph, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London p. 78[http://www.connected-earth.com/Daysout/BTArchives/Profile/index.htm The electric telegraph, forerunner of the internet, celebrates 170 years] BT Group Connected Earth Online Museum - Retrieved March 2010
• First tunnel under a navigable river, first all iron ship and first railway to run express services, contributed to by Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806–59).R. Tames, Isambard Kingdom Brunel (Osprey Publishing, 3rd edn., 2009), {{ISBN|0-7478-0758-2}}.
• Evolution by natural selection, by Charles Darwin (1809–82).C. Hatt, [https://books.google.com/books?id=BVBvehqrAPQC&q=Hatt,+Scientists+and+Their+Discoveries Scientists and Their Discoveries] (London: Evans Brothers, 2006), {{ISBN|0-237-53195-X}}, p. 46.
• The invention of the incandescent light bulb, by Joseph Swan (1826–1914).
• The unification of electromagnetism, by James Clerk Maxwell (1831–79).C. Hatt, [https://books.google.com/books?id=BVBvehqrAPQC&q=Hatt,+Scientists+and+Their+Discoveries Scientists and Their Discoveries] (London: Evans Brothers, 2006), {{ISBN|0-237-53195-X}}, p. 30.
• The first practical telephone, patented by Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922).{{Citation |title = Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922) |journal = Scottish Science Hall of Game |year = 1947 |volume = 159 |issue = 4035 |page = 297 |doi = 10.1038/159297a0 |bibcode = 1947Natur.159Q.297. |s2cid = 4072391 |doi-access = free }}.{{NoteTag|Alexander Graham Bell, born and raised in Scotland, made a number of inventions as a British citizen, notably the telephone in 1876; he did not become an American citizen until 1882, and then spent the remaining years of his life predominately living in Canada at a summer residence.}}
• The discovery of penicillin, by biologist and pharmacologist, Sir Alexander Fleming (1881–1955).{{Citation | title = The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1945 Sir Alexander Fleming, Ernst B. Chain, Sir Howard Florey | website = Nobelprize.org | url = http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1945/fleming-bio.html | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20110623190705/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1945/fleming-bio.html| url-status = live | archive-date =23 June 2011}}.
• The world's first working television system, and colour television, by John Logie Baird (1888–1946).{{Citation| title = John Logie Baird (1888–1946) | journal = BBC History | url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/baird_logie.shtml |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110621065807/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/baird_logie.shtml | url-status = live |archive-date =21 June 2011}}.[http://www.bairdtelevision.com/colour.html The World's First High Definition Colour Television System] McLean, p. 196.
• The first meaningful synthesis of quantum mechanics with special relativity by Paul Dirac (1902–84) in the equation named after him, and his subsequent prediction of antimatter.{{cite web |url = http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1933/ | title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1933 | publisher=The Nobel Foundation |access-date=2007-11-24 }}
• The invention of the jet engine, by Frank Whittle (1907–96).
• The invention of the hovercraft, by Christopher Cockerell (1910–99).[http://www.hovercraft-museum.org/cockerell.html "Sir Christopher Sydney Cockerell"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706134005/http://www.hovercraft-museum.org/cockerell.html |date=2008-07-06 }}, Hovercraft Museum, retrieved 24 June 2011.
• The colossus computer, by Alan Turing (1912–54), an early digital computer (a code breaker in WWII made in Bletchley Park).Jeffrey Cole, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Wlth0GRi0N0C&dq=Frank+Whittle+Alan+Turing+Tim+Berners-Lee&pg=PA121 Ethnic Groups of Europe: An Encyclopedia] (London: ABC-CLIO, 2011), {{ISBN|1-59884-302-8}}, p. 121.
• The structure of DNA, by Francis Crick (1916–2004) and others.C. Hatt, [https://books.google.com/books?id=BVBvehqrAPQC&q=Hatt,+Scientists+and+Their+Discoveries Scientists and Their Discoveries] (London: Evans Brothers, 2006), {{ISBN|0-237-53195-X}}, p. 56.
• The invention of modern data communication by Donald Davies (1924–2000), including packet switching, high-speed routers, hierarchical computer networks, layered communication protocols and the essence of the end-to-end principle.{{Cite book |last=Yates |first=David M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ToMfAQAAIAAJ&q=packet+switch |title=Turing's Legacy: A History of Computing at the National Physical Laboratory 1945-1995 |date=1997 |publisher=National Museum of Science and Industry |isbn=978-0-901805-94-2 |pages=132–4 |language=en |quote=Davies's invention of packet switching and design of computer communication networks ... were a cornerstone of the development which led to the Internet}}{{Cite book |last=Naughton |first=John |author-link=John Naughton |url=https://archive.org/details/briefhistoryoffu0000naug/page/292/mode/2up |title=A Brief History of the Future |date=2000 |publisher=Phoenix |isbn=9780753810934 |page=292 |language=en |orig-date=1999}}{{Cite journal |last=Campbell-Kelly |first=Martin |date=1987 |title=Data Communications at the National Physical Laboratory (1965-1975) |url=https://archive.org/details/DataCommunicationsAtTheNationalPhysicalLaboratory |journal=Annals of the History of Computing |language=en |volume=9 |issue=3/4 |pages=221–247 |doi=10.1109/MAHC.1987.10023 |s2cid=8172150 |quote=the first occurrence in print of the term protocol in a data communications context ... the next hardware tasks were the detailed design of the interface between the terminal devices and the switching computer, and the arrangements to secure reliable transmission of packets of data over the high-speed lines}}{{cite report |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA115440.pdf |title=A History of the ARPANET: The First Decade |date=1 April 1981 |publisher=Bolt, Beranek & Newman Inc. |pages=53 of 183 (III-11 on the printed copy) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121201013642/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA115440 |archive-date=1 December 2012 |url-status=live}}{{cite conference |last1=Davies |first1=Donald |last2=Bartlett |first2=Keith |last3=Scantlebury |first3=Roger |last4=Wilkinson |first4=Peter |date=October 1967 |title=A Digital Communication Network for Computers Giving Rapid Response at remote Terminals |url=https://people.mpi-sws.org/~gummadi/teaching/sp07/sys_seminar/how_did_erope_blow_this_vision.pdf |conference=ACM Symposium on Operating Systems Principles |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221010/https://people.mpi-sws.org/~gummadi/teaching/sp07/sys_seminar/how_did_erope_blow_this_vision.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-10 |access-date=2020-09-15 |url-status=live}} "all users of the network will provide themselves with some kind of error control"{{Refn|In the early 1960s, Paul Baran invented distributed adaptive message block switching for digital communication of voice messages using switches that were low-cost electronics. His work did not include routers with software switches and communication protocols, nor the idea that users, rather than the network itself, would provide the reliability.{{Cite journal |last=Kleinrock |first=L. |date=1978 |title=Principles and lessons in packet communications |url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/1455412 |journal=Proceedings of the IEEE |volume=66 |issue=11 |pages=1320–1329 |doi=10.1109/PROC.1978.11143 |issn=0018-9219 |quote=Paul Baran ... focused on the routing procedures and on the survivability of distributed communication systems in a hostile environment, but did not concentrate on the need for resource sharing in its form as we now understand it; indeed, the concept of a software switch was not present in his work.}}{{Cite book |last=Pelkey |first=James L. |title=Entrepreneurial Capitalism and Innovation: A History of Computer Communications 1968–1988 |chapter=6.1 The Communications Subnet: BBN 1969 |quote=As Kahn recalls: ... Paul Baran’s contributions ... I also think Paul was motivated almost entirely by voice considerations. If you look at what he wrote, he was talking about switches that were low-cost electronics. The idea of putting powerful computers in these locations hadn’t quite occurred to him as being cost effective. So the idea of computer switches was missing. The whole notion of protocols didn’t exist at that time. And the idea of computer-to-computer communications was really a secondary concern. |chapter-url=https://historyofcomputercommunications.info/section/6.1/the-communications-subnet-bbn-1969/}}{{Cite book |last=Waldrop |first=M. Mitchell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eRnBEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT285 |title=The Dream Machine |date=2018 |publisher=Stripe Press |isbn=978-1-953953-36-0 |pages=286 |language=en |quote=Baran had put more emphasis on digital voice communications than on computer communications.}}|group=note}}
• The theoretical breakthrough of the Higgs mechanism to explain electroweak symmetry breaking and why some particles have mass, by Peter Higgs (1929–2024).Griffiths, Martin (20070501) [http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/27731 physicsworld.com The Tale of the Blog's Boson] Retrieved on 2008-05-27.
• Theories in cosmology, quantum gravity and black holes, by Stephen Hawking (1942–2018).C. Hatt, [https://books.google.com/books?id=BVBvehqrAPQC&q=Hatt,+Scientists+and+Their+Discoveries Scientists and Their Discoveries] (London: Evans Brothers, 2006), {{ISBN|0-237-53195-X}}, p. 16.
• The invention of the World Wide Web, by Tim Berners-Lee (1955–).{{cite news |last=Quittner |first=Joshua |date=29 March 1999 |title=Network Designer Tim Berners-Lee |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,990627,00.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070815090521/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C990627%2C00.html |archive-date=15 August 2007 |access-date=17 May 2010 |work=Time Magazine |quote=He wove the World Wide Web and created a mass medium for the 21st century. The World Wide Web is Berners-Lee's alone. He designed it. He set it loose it on the world. And he more than anyone else has fought to keep it an open, non-proprietary and free.}}{{page needed|date=September 2016}}{{cite book |last=McPherson |first=Stephanie Sammartino |url=https://archive.org/details/timbernerslee0000mcph |title=Tim Berners-Lee: Inventor of the World Wide Web |publisher=Twenty-First Century Books |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8225-7273-2 |url-access=registration}}

{{Further|Aerospace industry in the United Kingdom|Automotive industry in the United Kingdom|Pharmaceutical industry in the United Kingdom}}

File:Qantas a380 vh-oqa takeoff heathrow arp.jpg has wings and engines manufactured in the United Kingdom.]]

The United Kingdom plays a leading part in the aerospace industry, with companies including Rolls-Royce playing a leading role in the aero-engine market; BAE Systems acting as Britain's largest and the Pentagon's sixth largest defence supplier, and large companies including GKN acting as major suppliers to the Airbus project.{{Citation |last = O’Connell |first = Dominic |title = Britannia still rules the skies |journal = The Sunday Times |url = http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/public/roadtorecovery/article526545.ece |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120112095801/http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/public/roadtorecovery/article526545.ece |url-status = dead |archive-date = January 12, 2012 }} Two British-based companies, GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca, ranked in the top five pharmaceutical companies in the world by sales in 2009{{Citation |title = IMS Health |journal = IMS Health |url = http://www.imshealth.com/deployedfiles/imshealth/Global/Content/StaticFile/Top_Line_Data/Global-Top_15_Companies.pdf |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110713022655/http://www.imshealth.com/deployedfiles/imshealth/Global/Content/StaticFile/Top_Line_Data/Global-Top_15_Companies.pdf |url-status = dead |archive-date =13 July 2011 }}. and UK companies have discovered and developed more leading medicines than any other country apart from the US.{{Citation | title = The Pharmaceutical sector in the UK | journal = The National Archives | date = 8 August 2007 |url = http://www.dti.gov.uk/sectors/biotech/pharmaceutical/page10219.html | archive-url = http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20070807122100/http://www.dti.gov.uk/sectors/biotech/pharmaceutical/page10219.html |url-status = dead |archive-date = 7 August 2007 }}. The UK remains a leading centre of automotive design and production, particularly of engines, and has around 2,600 component manufacturers.{{Citation | title = Automotive industry |journal = Department of Business Innovation and Skills | url = http://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/business-sectors/automotive |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110702164505/http://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/business-sectors/automotive | url-status = live |archive-date = 2 July 2011 }}. Investment by venture capital firms in UK technology companies was $9.7 billion from 2010 to 2015.{{cite web |title=UK tech firms smash venture capital funding record |url = http://www.londonandpartners.com/media-centre/press-releases/2016/20160106-vc-barometer-q4b |publisher=London & Partners |access-date=2 February 2016 |date=6 January 2016 }}

The UK is one of only 3 nations with $1 trillion technology industry.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}

{{Further|Universities in the United Kingdom|List of science parks in the United Kingdom|List of UK government scientific research institutes}}

File:Science in Wales - a video by the Welsh Government.webm short video of science in Wales]]

Scientific research and development remains important in British universities, with many establishing science parks to facilitate production and co-operation with industry.M. Castells, P. Hall, P. G. Hall, Technopoles of the World: the Making of Twenty-First-Century Industrial Complexes (London: Routledge, 1994), {{ISBN|0-415-10015-1}}, pp. 98–100. Between 2004 and 2012, the United Kingdom produced 6% of the world's scientific research papers and had an 8% share of scientific citations, the third- and second-highest in the world (after the United States' 9% and China's 7% respectively).{{Citation |title = Knowledge, networks and nations: scientific collaborations in the twenty-first century |publisher = Royal Society |year = 2011 |url = https://royalsociety.org/-/media/Royal_Society_Content/policy/publications/2011/4294976134.pdf |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110623123946/http://royalsociety.org/uploadedFiles/Royal_Society_Content/Influencing_Policy/Reports/2011-03-28-Knowledge-networks-nations.pdf |archive-date = 23 June 2011 |url-status = live |isbn=978-0-85403-890-9}}.{{cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/education/2006/mar/21/highereducation.uk4 |author=MacLeod, Donald |title= Britain Second in World Research Rankings |date=March 21, 2006 |work= The Guardian |access-date=May 14, 2006 |location=London }} Scientific journals produced in the UK include Nature, the British Medical Journal and The Lancet.

Britain was one of the largest recipients of research funding from the European Union. From 2007 to 2013, the UK received €8.8 billion out of a total of €107 billion expenditure on research, development and innovation in EU Member States, associated and third countries. At the time, this represented the fourth largest share in the EU.{{cite web|title=How much research funding does the UK get from the EU and how does this compare with other countries?|url=https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/uk-research-and-european-union/role-of-EU-in-funding-UK-research/how-much-funding-does-uk-get-in-comparison-with-other-countries/|publisher=Royal Society|access-date=13 June 2016|date=23 November 2015}} The European Research Council granted 79 projects funding in the UK in 2017, more than any other EU country.{{cite news|title=Boost for hopes of post-Brexit co-operation as EU awards Britain more research grants than anywhere else|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/06/boost-hopes-post-brexit-co-operation-aseu-awards-britain-research/|access-date=19 September 2017|work=The Telegraph|date=6 September 2017}}{{cite web|title=ERC Starting Grants 2017|url=https://erc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/document/file/erc_2017_stg_statistics.pdf|publisher=European Research Council|access-date=19 September 2017|date=6 September 2017}} The United Kingdom was ranked 5th in the Global Innovation Index in 2024.{{cite book|url=https://www.wipo.int/web-publications/global-innovation-index-2024/en/|title=Global Innovation Index 2024. Unlocking the Promise of Social Entrepreneurship|access-date=2024-10-22|author=World Intellectual Property Organization|year=2024|isbn=978-92-805-3681-2|doi= 10.34667/tind.50062|website=www.wipo.int|location=Geneva|page=18}}

{{Portal|United Kingdom|Science|Technology}}

• Government Office for Science
• Internet in the United Kingdom
• List of exports of the United Kingdom
• Manufacturing in the United Kingdom
• Telecommunications in the United Kingdom

{{NoteFoot}}

{{Reflist}}

{{-}}

{{Science and technology in the United Kingdom |state = expanded }}

{{United Kingdom topics}}

{{Economy of the United Kingdom}}

{{Europe topic|Science and technology in}}